'We have made back our development budget after 3 hours': Mewgenics explodes to number one Steam seller 14 years after its announcement

Mewgenics is a hit. The cat breeding tactics game from Edmund McMillen, creator of Super Meat Boy and Binding of Isaac, and Tyler Glaiel released on Steam today and instantly shot up the charts. It's the number one global top seller on Steam, beating out Counter-Strike 2, PUGB, Helldivers 2, and Arc Raiders.

Or put another way: "We have made back our development budget after 3 hours. Thank you all :)" Glaiel wrote on Bluesky today.

Not bad for a $30 indie game that looks like it could've fallen out of Newgrounds' couch cushions. Our own Robin Valentine loved it, calling it a "sprawling, ridiculous, and endlessly surprising roguelike that will drag your body and soul into its chaotic world" in his 92% Mewgenics review.

For as hotly anticipated as Mewgenics was among ball knowers, its warm welcome wasn't always a certainty. First announced an unbelievable 14 years ago, back when McMillen was still flying the Team Meat flag, Mewgenics was once a very different sort of game with Pokémon-like combat. That version was eventually cancelled, Team Meat broke up, and Mewgenics became the stuff of development hell legend. The project was only picked back up by McMillen in 2018, who teamed up with Glaiel and committed to a turn-based combat format in 2020.

and we have made back our development budget after 3 hours. Thank you all :)

— @tylerglaiel.com (@tylerglaiel.com.bsky.social) 2026-02-10T20:05:48.692Z

Even if the final incarnation of Mewgenics only goes back six years, it's the sort of game that's so expansive and surprising that you'd believe someone's been plugging away at it since the first Obama administration. No two runs are the same, which is a thing devs like to say about their roguelikes, but only occasionally holds up to scrutiny. With hundreds of items, abilities, synergies, mutations, and secrets to find, Mewgenics is truly a special one.

McMillen, ever the chill dude he is, is enjoying Mewgenics launch day by watching people play Mewgenics.

"Thanks everyone :) Hope you are enjoying what we made. Gunna watch you guys play it all day."